


The last seconds of time

by fighterandall



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-15
Updated: 2015-03-15
Packaged: 2018-03-18 00:52:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3549995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fighterandall/pseuds/fighterandall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a one-shot fanfic based on a prompt from tumblr which roughly contains a couple and one of the people in it comes to their end but they want to hear the other person just once more. So they call and have a casual talk. I cried while writing this, but it had been in my head for so long I just had to put it down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The last seconds of time

Life has got an end. She's watched death in the eyes enough time and taken away enough lives to know it.

She barely makes it out of the secret facility before the explosives from the automatic destruction system blow the whole thing to hell. Where a few minutes ago have been two stores high research buildings now stood only crumbled walls, reaching no higher than her waist.

Her almost numb fingers are keeping the flash drive with all the information she'd managed to snitch in her palm for dear life. Life, that was slowly slipping through her fingers out of the large wound on her abdomen, staining the white jacket she's got over her black clothes for camouflage. If there are pursuers it won't work. Red stands out pretty well on white and it's as if she's leaving crumbs of bread behind herself for everyone to follow.

She has to gather all her strength to get to the cabin, where she finally has secure connection with S.H.I.E.L.D. Her vision gets darker with every second and it takes her two tries to get a hold of the agency satellite phone, hidden well under the mattress in the small room.

"This is Widow. I got the intel, but I'm hurt. Deep abdominal wound, caused by a large glass flying in high velocity. I can't stop the bleeding and I've lost considerable amount of blood. I need immediate extraction" - she breathes out, praying the help is near.

"Copy, Widow. We'll need twenty minutes the least. We expected you at the safe location. We can't get to you any quicker" she hears in-between the static.

Her heart skips a beat. For a moment she just stays frozen in her place on the cold floor of the little house, putting as much pressure as she can on the wound. She can do nothing to stop the life flowing out of her with every heartbeat. Her tongue goes over her dry lips.

"Understood. I'll be waiting." she says calmly before ending the conversation.

Her brain is ticking. Calculating. Searching for solution. There is none. After years of dancing on the edge, she's run out of luck. Such a pity it happened when she finally realized she wanted to live so much.

Composing herself, she dials a number she's known by heart for years now. Two signals and he's there, his voice just the thing she needs and wants to hear right now.

"Hello?" his voice is cautious. A little raspy and sexy as hell. He's been sleeping, she realizes. It's what? 8 hours forward where he is? Which makes it in the middle of the night.

"Hey" her voice is gentle and quiet. "It's me. Did I wake you up?"

"Hey, Nat!" - he's still sounding sleepy, but he does his best to convince her otherwise. "I wasn't, no, I was... um... I was actually finishing some paperwork at home."

There are happy notes in his words and she smiles, closing her eyes as a wave of pain strikes her. She pulls her knees to her chest like a child, trying to stop it. His voice brings her back to the present moment:

"Nat? Are you there? Is everything okay?" seems she has kept quiet for long enough to raise his awareness.

"Yeah. Of course." - she tries to sound as casual as possible. She bites her lower lip for a moment, before continuing. "I'm at the hotel, I'm just tired and I wanted to hear your voice."

She can picture him relaxing and nodding at the phone as if she could see him in front of her eyes. He's surely rolling his eyes at himself when it catches up to him that she can't. It brings another smile to her lips.

"Bad mission?" he asks sympathetically and she can't help but chuckle.

"Something like that." - she said in a hushed tone, adding, to brush off his concerns. "It's all okay now, don't worry. How are Liho and Lucky? Do they miss me?"

It's been only a month since they've decided to give it a try - to give a chance to their... thing. Surprisingly, their pets had gotten along far better than them. After all it took Natasha and Clint a whole of five years to confess to themselves there was more than partnership to it all.

She hears him laugh and for a second, Natasha forgets the pain.

"Liho hasn't shown a lot of signs she misses anyone but she's a cat, so" - he grunts as he shifts around in bed - "I guess that's normal. Lucky misses your morning crosses in the park, though. I'm afraid I'm spoiling him, so I hope you get home sooner so you can get him back in shape."

Natasha can hear him teasing her and she lets out a fake exasperated sigh.

"We just made a personal record the other day and he learnt he can't eat everything, Clint! You're ruining my reputation!"

She hears him shift again in the sheets that are probably tangled around his well built body, before he speaks gently. His voice is filled with tenderness:

"That's why we need you to come home sooner. We need someone to take care of us."

He doesn't mean bad when he says it. She knows that for sure, but she can barely suppress a whimper, so she bites as hard at her lower lip as she can not to let the telltale sound out. She can taste the metal taste of blood in her mouth after, but it outweighs all the other pain for a second as she lets her head relax on the wall, tears filling her eyes.

"Tasha? Are you there?" he suddenly sounds very awake and concerned and she tries to get a grip again. What good would it do if she tells him the truth? That she's dying. That she's never coming home. That he can't do a single thing from the other end of the world to help her but speak to her until the end?

"Yeah." she swallows down the salty tears that threaten to overpower her and takes in a deep breath as quietly as she can. She's so tired she can barely keep pressure on the wound anymore but she tries for his sake. Maybe the extraction team will manage. Maybe she will be okay. Maybe... maybe... maybe... "I just miss you so much. I want to come home."

The words slip out of her lips before she can think about how desperate and childish they sound. But this is probably the last chance for her to show him she trusts him enough to be a child with him. She's going all in for the last time.

"Hey." He tries to calm her down and she can picture him pulling himself up in bed as he rests his back on the pillows. "It's okay, you're coming home soon, right? You're at the hotel so you've finished the mission. When is your flight? I know you're a grown up woman who doesn't need my chivalry and all, and you don't want anyone knowing about us yet, but I want to come get you at the airport."

She tries her best to sound casual but her heart is hurting so much. Rights now she'd gladly take his chivalry. She never knew a muscle could hold and cause so much pain. Yet it did.

"I don't know. I'm waiting for orders" - she lies easily. She hears him sigh.

"I'm calling Coulson first thing in... two hours, and getting the information from him. I'm even going to threaten Lola if I have to."

He sounds so serious she lets out a tired laugh that makes her abdomen hurt even more. He's always managed to make her laugh. And feel better. And be better.

On the other hand, she's not sure she's given him anything but a hard time.

"I love you."

She whispers it absolutely seriously and consciously and it's one of the most serious things she's said in her life. She's thought about it lately but the words have never left her lips until now. She might as well do it before the phone has slipped from her numb fingers and broken on the hard wooden floor.

She realizes her confession has come out of nowhere for him and gives him the time to adapt and answer. She closes her eyes for the last time when she hears him say the words she hopes to hear the most now:

"I love you too, Tasha."

Everything's black and she knows she has to let him go. Otherwise he'll know there's something wrong when she stops talking and she doesn't want him to remember her like that - like a rude person who says they love him but just stops talking after that.

"I have to go pack now. I'll see you soon." she murmurs in the phone. He jokes about a limo and a rose at the airport and she laughs, using up the last strength left in her body. They say goodbye.

She feels better and worse at the same time. Time slows as the phone slips away, but she knows the rescue is still solid 5 to 10 minutes away. Too far away.

She tries to the last possible moment. She holds on to his words until they're just a feeling. Until she's gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Since it caused me so much pain to write it and I can't bring myself to kill off one of my favorite characters of all time, I think this is what happens next: the team makes it in time and she survives. He's there to welcome her home, pissed off at her for the phonecall but at the same time insanely happy she survived after all. Maybe I could write a sequel? Should I? Let me know how you'd like if the story should continue.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of this story, nor the idea of the plot. I just put mu thoughts to words. Thanks for reading!


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